Koh allows argument that Cupertino wasn't even using those patents

Apple has been rebuffed in its attempt to exclude Samsung testimony in the two firms' ongoing patent infringement case.

Judge Lucy Koh has struck down a request for relief filed by Cupertino's legal eagles in objection to comments made by Samsung relating to Apple's use of patents it has claimed Samsung infringes upon. The Korean electronics giant said in its opening statements that Apple has not put to use patents for which it is seeking damages.

"During opening statements, Samsung's counsel repeatedly made irrelevant, misleading, and even untrue statements that have undoubtedly caused the jury to form impressions that are highly prejudicial to Apple," Cook & Co.'s lawyers wrote in their appeal.

According to Apple, Samsung wrongly asserted that it does not make use of four patents which it says are used in its iOS devices. The patents, according to Apple, relate to the way iOS auto-corrects text, handles missed calls, deploys the Siri virtual assistant, and manages calendar and contact entries.

Apple had asked that Samsung be ordered to not make further statements repeating the claims, and that the jury be given instructions "to curtail the harm and prejudice caused by Samsung's improper statements."

That objection, however, will not be sustained by Judge Koh. In filings posted by FOSS Patents, Koh asks both companies to provide further evidence as to their respective claims on Apple's use of the patents in question, denying the requests for relief in the meantime.

The filings are just the latest in the ongoing patent battles between Samsung and Apple. The two firms have been locked in a long-term legal war over allegations that Samsung's handsets and tablets infringe on Apple's patent holdings.

Last year, Apple won a ruling from the same San José court which brought the company a $924m haul for infringement. The two firms are now battling out a second case regarding additional patent infringement claims. ®